Littleton Fire Chief poses new site for station

Saturday

Nov 2, 2013 at 12:01 AMNov 2, 2013 at 2:18 AM

Littleton Fire Chief Scott Wodzinsky is putting his proposal for rehabilitating the existing Foster Street fire station on the backburner while he rolls out a new proposal to build a station on a different site.

The potential site is on the 80-acre Morgan property, which is currently town-owned and managed by the Board of Selectmen. The Morgan property is on the south side of King Street, directly opposite to the Congregational Church.

The fire department has outgrown the existing fire station, according to Wodzinsky. It was built in the early 1940s as a fire and police station, as well as a town hall, he added. The police department moved out of the site to a new station on Great Road in 2008, according to Wodzinsky.

Lindsey O'Donnell

Littleton Fire Chief Scott Wodzinsky is putting his proposal for rehabilitating the existing Foster Street fire station on the backburner while he rolls out a new proposal to build a station on a different site.

The potential site is on the 80-acre Morgan property, which is currently town-owned and managed by the Board of Selectmen. The Morgan property is on the south side of King Street, directly opposite to the Congregational Church.

The fire department has outgrown the existing fire station, according to Wodzinsky. It was built in the early 1940s as a fire and police station, as well as a town hall, he added. The police department moved out of the site to a new station on Great Road in 2008, according to Wodzinsky.

The fire station, originally operating under a call and volunteer department, now has over 30 on-call members, as well as a full-time staff, he said.

The department responded to 1,448 emergency service calls in 2010 and 1,501 calls in 2011, according to the department website. This year, the department has responded to about 1,420 calls so far, said Wodzinsky.

The department looked at over 54 locations for a new parcel of land that is viable for a new station site, according to Wodzinsky.

"We were looking for a location that is centrally located so that our staff can still get to and from all parts of town in a timely fashion," added Wodzinsky.

With permission from the Board of Selectmen, the Fire Department has also been talking with officials at the parks and recreation department in hopes of sharing parts of the Morgan property in the future. According to Wodzinsky, the Morgan property contains two fields that could be split between the two departments.

The fire department has hired engineers to look at the Morgan property in order to evaluate the quality of the wetlands and soil. Wodzinsky said he hopes to know the estimated cost of the potential site and how it would play into the town’s budget within the next few weeks.

The cost of expanding the existing fire station on Foster Street is $6.6 million, said Wodzinsky.

Not all Littleton residents have accepted news about renovations to the existing station. George Sanders, of Great Road, voiced concern that the amount of money to spend on the project would be too much for the town.

"Let’s try not to put such a great burden on the people here," said Sanders. "The timing right now to make renovations like this is just not good for Littleton."

Renovations on the existing station would include tearing down the rear garage to replace it with living quarters, office space, and a modern training room.